Kamal - DMK- Cong combo in Puducherry - Karti Chidambaram formula

 

Like New Delhi became the spring board of Kejriwal, Puducherry is likely to be that of Kamal Haasan and his  Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) , if Karti Chidambaram succeeds in his game plan, said a senior Congress leader in the Chidambaram camp. If the Puducherry formula comes through, it would be replicated in Tamil Nadu in the long run , hinted the leader.

The small Union Territory run by  Congress trusted aide Narayanaswamy has been facing trouble from his ally DMK, They are staking a claim for CM  post on a rotational basis and enough seats to keep it voice heard in the coming State poll. Karti who has done a study of electoral prospects in TN and Puducherry has found that the Union territory could be the first place to sow the seeds of a new political combo and thereby extend it to TN.

Karti appointed team has told him that the  DMK is on a weaker wicket than before. The Dravidian major is not getting the response it was expecting from a battle where there is no Jayalalithaa to lead the AIADMK  . Stalin who was the campaign leader even when his father was alive, finds that the expected kind of anti ADMK reaction was not seen in the public. Anti incumbency wave is not something that DMK can bank on alone, is the reading.

In what was a fight between two Dravidian parties has now come out to be a play of caste and communal leaders calling the shots. With ADMK minus Jayalalithaa, EPS has been   openly playing upto the caste divides and the sect leaders. It has made DMK left with no option but to bow down to pressure groups. Karti who got the Konar caste to votes  for him in Sivaganga knows that in caste politics, Congress oldies have still a clout..

Karti report says that Congress on its own might not win many but to the public, the posturing of DMK as anti Centre  and protector of Tamils synchs only if it is in the company of Congress. For a start, Karti now plans to induct Kamal into the DMK- Cong fold in the Union territory. The  hitch here is that the DMK is not willing to let go any seats that it  has won and asked Congress to share its quota with MNM. Also sensing that Cong- MNM together in Puducherry could prove detrimental, it has put old warhorse Arakkonam MP S Jagathrakshagan into action mode.

Karti is in talks with VCK Thol and MDMK Vaiko to impress upon Stalin to agree to a induction of MNM, if the latter agrees. If the alliance bears fruit in Puducherry, it could be replicated in TN is what Karti feels. The ABP C +Voter shows that the DMK leading position in the survey is having only a 1.75 % lead over ADMK.